71 research outputs found
The Cost-effectiveness of interventions to support self care
EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
Understanding and Addressing the Challenges of Conducting Quantitative Evaluation at a Local Level: a worked example of the available approaches
BRITE-Constellation reveals evidence for pulsations in the enigmatic binary Carinae
Car is a massive, eccentric binary with a rich observational history.
We obtained the first high-cadence, high-precision light curves with the
BRITE-Constellation nanosatellites over 6 months in 2016 and 6 months in 2017.
The light curve is contaminated by several sources including the Homunculus
nebula and neighboring stars, including the eclipsing binary
CPD592628. However, we found two coherent oscillations in the light
curve. These may represent pulsations that are not yet understood but we
postulate that they are related to tidally excited oscillations of Car's
primary star, and would be similar to those detected in lower-mass eccentric
binaries. In particular, one frequency was previously detected by van Genderen
et al. and Sterken et al. through the time period of 1974 to 1995 through
timing measurements of photometric maxima. Thus, this frequency seems to have
been detected for nearly four decades, indicating that it has been stable in
frequency over this time span. These pulsations could help provide the first
direct constraints on the fundamental parameters of the primary star if
confirmed and refined with future observations.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted to MNRA
Economic Evaluation of Environmental Interventions: Reflections on Methodological Challenges and Developments
Evaluation of the costs and outcomes associated with environmental policies and interventions is often required to inform public policy and allocate scarce resources. Methods to conduct assessments of cost-effectiveness have been developed in the context of pharmaceuticals, but have more recently been applied in public health, diagnostics, and other more complex interventions. The suitability of existing economic evaluation methodology has been explored in many contexts, however, this is yet to be undertaken for interventions and policies pertaining to the natural environment, such as urban green spaces and strategies to reduce indoor and outdoor air pollution. To make significant inroads into the evaluation of interventions and policies relating to the natural environment requires an understanding of the challenges faced in this context. Many of these challenges may be practical (data-related), however, a number are also methodological, and thus have implications for the appropriate framework for economic evaluation. This paper considers some of the challenges faced when conducting cost-effectiveness analyses in this context and explores what solutions have been proposed thus far. The intention is to help pave the way for consideration of which existing framework is most appropriate for the evaluation of natural environment (NE) interventions, or if a distinct framework is required. Environmental policies and interventions relating to the built environment, for example, housing, are not explicitly included here
Peopleās preferences for self-management support
Objective To identify and assess the preferences of people with longāterm health conditions toward generalizable characteristics of selfāmanagement support interventions, with the objective to inform the design of more personācentered support services. Data Sources Primary qualitative and quantitative data collected on a representative sample of individuals with at least one of the fifteen most prevalent longāterm conditions in the UK. Study Design Targeted literature review followed by a series of oneātoāone qualitative semistructured interviews and a largeāscale discrete choice experiment. Data Collection Digital recording of oneātoāone qualitative interviews, oneātoāone cognitive interviews, and a series of online quantitative surveys, including two bestāworst scaling and one discrete choice experiment, with individuals with longāterm conditions. Principal Findings On average, patients preferred a selfāmanagement support intervention that (a) discusses the options available to the patient and make her choose, (b) is individualābased, (c) face to face (d) with doctor or nurse, (e) at the GP practice, (f) sessions shorter than 1 hour, and (g) occurring annually for twoāthird of the sample and monthly for the rest. We found heterogeneity in preferences via three latent classes, with class sizes of 41% (C1), 30% (C2), and 29% (C3). The individualsā gender [P < 0.05(C1), P < 0.01(C3)], age [P < 0.05(C1), P < 0.05(C2)], type of longāterm condition [P < 0.05(C1), P < 0.01(C3)], and presence of comorbidity [P < 0.01(C1), P < 0.01(C3), P < 0.01(C3)] were able to characterize differences between these latent classes and help understand the heterogeneity of preferences toward the above mentioned features of selfāmanagement support interventions. These findings were then used to profile individuals into different preference groups, for each of whom the most desirable form of selfāmanagement support, one that was more likely to be adopted by the recipient, could be designed. Conclusions We identified several factors that could be used to inform a more nuanced selfāmanagement support service design and provision that take into account the recipient's characteristics and preferences.Output Status: Forthcoming/Available Onlin
Increasing Drug Resistance in Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, South Africa
We expanded second-line tuberculosis (TB) drug susceptibility testing for extensively drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from South Africa. Of 19 patients with extensively drug-resistant TB identified during February 2008āApril 2009, 13 (68%) had isolates resistant to all 8 drugs tested. This resistance leaves no effective treatment with available drugs in South Africa
A cluster randomised controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a Structured Health Intervention For Truckers (The SHIFT Study) : Study Protocol
Phytobiomes are compositionally nested from the ground up
Plant-associated microbes are critical players in host health, fitness and productivity. Despite microbesā importance in plants, seeds are mostly sterile, and most plant microbes are recruited from an environmental pool. Surprisingly little is known about the processes that govern how environmental microbes assemble on plants in nature. In this study we examine how bacteria are distributed across plant parts, and how these distributions interact with spatial gradients. We sequenced amplicons of bacteria from the surfaces of six plant parts and adjacent soil of Scaevola taccada, a common beach shrub, along a 60 km transect spanning Oāahu islandās windward coast, as well as within a single intensively-sampled site. Bacteria are more strongly partitioned by plant part as compared with location. Within S. taccada plants, microbial communities are highly nested: soil and rhizosphere communities contain much of the diversity found elsewhere, whereas reproductive parts fall at the bottom of the nestedness hierarchy. Nestedness patterns suggest either that microbes follow a source/sink gradient from the ground up, or else that assembly processes correlate with other traits, such as tissue persistence, that are vertically stratified. Our work shines light on the origins and determinants of plant-associated microbes across plant and landscape scales
The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment: Exploring Fundamental Symmetries of the Universe
The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early Universe, the
dynamics of the supernova bursts that produced the heavy elements necessary for
life and whether protons eventually decay --- these mysteries at the forefront
of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early
evolution of our Universe, its current state and its eventual fate. The
Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) represents an extensively developed
plan for a world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions. LBNE
is conceived around three central components: (1) a new, high-intensity
neutrino source generated from a megawatt-class proton accelerator at Fermi
National Accelerator Laboratory, (2) a near neutrino detector just downstream
of the source, and (3) a massive liquid argon time-projection chamber deployed
as a far detector deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research
Facility. This facility, located at the site of the former Homestake Mine in
Lead, South Dakota, is approximately 1,300 km from the neutrino source at
Fermilab -- a distance (baseline) that delivers optimal sensitivity to neutrino
charge-parity symmetry violation and mass ordering effects. This ambitious yet
cost-effective design incorporates scalability and flexibility and can
accommodate a variety of upgrades and contributions. With its exceptional
combination of experimental configuration, technical capabilities, and
potential for transformative discoveries, LBNE promises to be a vital facility
for the field of particle physics worldwide, providing physicists from around
the globe with opportunities to collaborate in a twenty to thirty year program
of exciting science. In this document we provide a comprehensive overview of
LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics
worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will
possess.Comment: Major update of previous version. This is the reference document for
LBNE science program and current status. Chapters 1, 3, and 9 provide a
comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the
landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate
and the capabilities it will possess. 288 pages, 116 figure
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